


The Family He Found

by hogwartsahoy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Party, Gen, Neville's 40th Birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:34:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25608958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hogwartsahoy/pseuds/hogwartsahoy
Summary: At Albus Potter's request, his godfather, Neville Longbottom, comes over to the Potter house for a birthday party to celebrate turning 40.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	The Family He Found

**Author's Note:**

> Today, July 30th, is Neville Longbottom's 40th birthday. After writing a piece for Draco's birthday back in June, I decided it would be nice to write little drabbles for other characters birthdays too. I intended for this one to be much shorter, but it ended up being just over 1000 words, and so it gets the honour of coming onto Ao3 instead of just twitter! 
> 
> Anyway, I loved writing this one. I love exploring ideas about what happened with Neville after Hogwarts. Since we don't know too much, I sort of had a lot of wiggle room on this one. I did change one thing, though – in the canon, Neville married Hannah Abbott, but I honestly don't have too many feelings about that pairing and so I just decided to go with Neville never having married and having found family elsewhere. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I hope you all like it too!
> 
> Happy 40th Birthday, Neville.

It had been Albus’ idea to invite Neville over to their house for a birthday dinner. Harry had been surprised at first. Neville _was_ Albus’ godfather, and if Harry could, he’d be spending his own birthday with his godfather, Sirius, but he happily agreed with Albus’ idea for the dinner. He and Ginny spent an hour planning a small menu, and then invited several of their other friends around, too.

James, Albus and Lily spent the afternoon setting up a table in the back garden big enough for everyone. It was a rare moment of serenity between the three siblings, since Albus had often been distant with his brother and sister. Harry had found himself more surprised at the fact that Albus had even _asked_ for this since it meant he’d have to speak to his father. They had their moments, he supposed.

At exactly 7:00pm on July 30th, Neville arrived at the Potter household. The others had all arrived and were crowded around in the garden when Harry led Neville through the house and out the back. The look on Neville’s face was worth all of it.

In the garden, everyone cheered as they saw him. Ginny was sitting at the table with Hermione and Rose, all three of them mid discussion. Ron was speaking to Jamesand Hugo in the back corner, where James had recently started a small vegetable garden for some summer activity. Luna, Albus and Scorpius were all sat in a circle on the grass on the opposite side of the table, with Luna trying to teach the two boys some sort of hand clapping game. When Neville entered, all of the attention was turned to him.

Albus sprang to his feet and half ran across the lawn to meet Neville. He looked happier than Harry had seen him in a while, though it wasn’t _quite_ the level of happiness he portrayed whenever he saw Scorpius. Neville grinned down at him.

“Was this all you?” He asked, quickly giving a wave to Ginny as he saw her.

Albus shrugged a shoulder.

“It was,” Harry confirmed, stepping down into the garden and smiling over at his son. He was more than proud of him. Neville had never married, never had children, and Harry supposed that the closest thing he had to children of his own were his friends children and those he taught at school. Ginny had made a big deal about making Neville feel like a very large part of the family when they were a little younger. Naming Neville Albus’ godfather had been an easy decision. Harry often felt glad about the fact that Albus got to be so close to him since Harry had such limited time with Sirius. “He wanted to make sure you had a very happy birthday.”

Neville hadn’t stopped smiling since he’d arrived. In many ways, he was still the young Neville that Harry had been at school with, but he’d also grown so much too. He was more confident, less nervous. He held himself differently, and that showed.

“Dad’s been cooking all day,” Albus said, looking between the two. “Hope it doesn’t make us all sick.” Then, he pulled Neville away without another word.

Neville looked back at Harry with raised eyebrows, but accepted being pulled over to wherever Albus was taking him. It turned out that he was simply taking him back to Scorpius and Luna, who had both resumed their attempts at the hand clapping game that they’d been working on before. Albus sat down beside Scorpius and Neville joined him, ending up between Albus and Luna.

“I’m a bit surprised to see you here, Scorpius,” Neville admitted.

Scorpius looked at Albus a little sheepishly. “Albus wanted me to come,” he shrugged. “Happy Birthday, though, Professor Longbottom. I hope you don’t mind me crashing your party. My dad sends birthday wishes by the way. He was… busy.”

Neville knew that Draco wasn’t _busy,_ but he wasn’t offended at him deciding not to attend the party. He’d done his best over his adult years to move on from the past and his teenage years, and he truly believed he was doing well.

“Crashing my party? Absolutely not,” Neville shook his head. “And call me Neville, please. We’re not at school. Honestly, I much prefer being called by my first name when I’m out of work.”

Scorpius and Albus shared a smile at that.

Neville turned to Luna. “I wondered if you were going to be here. I’m glad you are.”

“Ginny invited me,” Luna sounded particularly thrilled. “Lorcan and Lysander wanted to come, too, but Rolf had planned to take them on a Magical Beast Expedition before this party happened. I was going to go, too, but I’ve missed you all too much.”

At that exact moment, Neville found himself being hugged from behind by Ginny, who had snuck over. It was an awkward hug, considering Neville was sitting on the ground, but it was a hug nonetheless. Neville laughed up at her.

“Happy 40th Neville,” she hummed. “I’m glad you can spend it with us.”

She sunk down onto the ground beside him. Neville was just about to turn to her and thank her for holding the party when he found himself being hugged _again,_ but this time by Ginny’s mini-me. Lily Luna leapt onto him, laughing. She was a _little_ too big to be jumping on people, especially considering she was already at Hogwarts and would be entering her second year in just over a month. Nevertheless, Neville couldn’t help but laugh and then hug her back when she detached herself to hug him.

“You’re the best Herbology Professor I’ve ever had,” Lily said very confidently, and then left Neville as quickly as she’d arrived so that she could, instead, curl up beside Luna, who wrapped an arm around the young girl.

Neville raised his eyebrows. “I’m the _only_ Herbology Professor you’ve ever had.”

Her grin was cheeky and wicked at the same time.

Luna patted her arm. “That’s my goddaughter.”

Neville doubted he’d felt this happy all summer. As he looked around the garden at his family, at Ginny, Scorpius, Albus, Lily and Luna all sat around him, at Ron, James, Hermione and Rose still milling about the garden, at Harry and Hugo, who were carrying several dishes covered in foil out of the kitchen and to the large table, he felt immensely lucky to have a family like this. Even though none of them were related to him by blood, they were his family. They had been for many years, and he expected they would be for years to come. And he knew that he wouldn’t have wanted to celebrate turning 40 anywhere else.


End file.
